Eclipse Enters Crutchfield

Good question.  I've this sense that we're going to a commidity mindset and away from purchasing a good w/ a service.  Meaning no one cares where they get a product & what comes with it as long as they get the best deal - treating everything as a commidity, and the service isn't so important anymore.  Half the success of Home Depot is based on that theory and they're opening a new store approx every 9 days!  The internet's key n the process also - so much information at our fingertips, "let's see if we can find the product cheaper online."  I'm as guilty as anyone else.

My thought is that smaller retailers can only survive if they offer their services as the product.  Custom installations, custom fabrications, that sort of thing that the big boxes can't do.  Anyone with respectable fiberglass skills could start a biz doing semi-custom fiberglass sub boxes for certain vehicles.  Make a good mold, then go online to the Nissan 300z forum or the BMW X-5 car club & sell 40 of them @ $300 each.  Do that for 25 cars, you're doing pretty well.  It's things like that that will keep you guys alive, I believe.

I'd love to see Denon get back into car audio.

Here is another factor to consider. Eclipse for years preached to us all about the line not being able to be sold on-line. Matter of fact they made it perfectly clear that they would take the line from us if we did do this. So what happens this year that is different. No dealer agreements to sign. No Mission Statement in the pricelists and oh guess what?, Eclipse is now available on line from the big box butcher and now Crutchfield which even if they are only limited to the Nav units, will most certainly grow in the future. So it seems that a total about face regarding the on-line retailing aspect has now infact happened. Seems that it is alright to now advertise on-line.

If you ask me this is all about greed and who cares about looking after the real people that built the line for them. Business is business sure and I can accept that. I cannot accept being lied to. So, perhaps I should become the biggest discount slackhouse online retailer for Eclipse, must keep up with the Jones's these days.

it's indicative of the entire industry, not just Eclipse.... they just happen to be among the last holdouts....Best Buy sells the Clifford LED 2 way unit for 4 dollars less than my cost.... they also advertise the Blaupunkt Indianapolis for $99 retail in their flyer yet to this day Canadian dealer cost is still $111 ( just down from $126!!!)     When i brought this up with the rep he told me the Canadian distributor has graciously offered to reimburse us up to our cost if we wish to match their price..  they are going to make up the difference to our cost !!    assuming any dealer out there is stupid enough to sell product at cost....as long as manufacturers and distributors have an attitude like this nothing will change.....

the big box retailers and online retailers will be the death of the small, knowledgable independent retailers simply by whoring out every possible niche item to the point where there is nothing to be made on it.....   i wouldnt neccessarily have a problem with someone like Crutchfield getting a product line (Eclipse or any other) if they were kept to MRSP only....or at least some kind of MSP (Minimum Selling Price)  just like B&O does... if you want to sell the product you sell it for this much or you dont sell it at all.....    i have no problem competing with a big box store or online retailer if we are playing on the same, level playing surface.... but the huge volume buys and backdoor rebates make that almost impossible.....

the real shame is the consumers (you know who you are!!!) who profess to empathize with us independents and allow us to spend 30 minutes educating them on every feature and aspect of a new unit, only then to trot down the road and buy it from the box store because it's $50 less !!       shame on you!!!     all this does is cause an erosion in the quality of service available at the small stores.....   lots of us small independents will continue to survive ( i didnt say thrive ) but as long as consumers continue to shop simply on price, i dont see any foreseeable growth in this industry....

how many people out there saw the movie Other Peoples Money w/ Danny Devito?        We ( the small independent audio retailers and install shops) are the Buggy Whip manufacturers he refers to... ( the last company making buggy whips made the best damn buggy whip money could buy, yet they were at the pinnacle of a dead industry ) we survivers are the best at what we do, yet we are the best players in a dying industry......